Joseph
Beuys postulated his theory in the late 1970s. He said that
the light for which Holland was famous had lost its unique
radiance, thereby acknowledging not only that it had disappeared,
but that it had actually existed in the first place. The idea
was astonishing. Beuys put it down to land reclamation in the
Zuyder Zee in the mid-1950s. And that, he maintained, marked
the end of a visual culture dating back to the 17th century.
Beuys described the Zuyder Zee as a vast mirror of light. He
called it the eye of Holland. And he concluded that by draining
it to create polders, the Dutch had ended up blinding themselves.
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